LIGHT MOMENT FRIDAYS – FEATURE 34 - “WE ARE FAMILY........”

This Friday’s light moment feature will have a teachable moment as well, and it is once again courtesy of our four year old son, so here goes:

Recently my husband had reasons to scold our son and he did it in a raised tone. Our son  responded soon after, “daddy you should not talk to me like that, because we are family.” His dad then responded, it is because you did not obey me at first why I had to talk to you like that. He was still quite obviously upset.

For us both it was a light moment, but I was soon forced to really look into what he was saying. As family we do cause each other hurt, albeit, unintentionally but sadly, sometimes it is intentional. During my struggles with infertility, my mom said some things to me that made me quite upset. I was able to forgive her and move on only because I knew it was not intentional that she was hurting me. I also believe in the love she has for all her children and I knew it was because she could not deal with the fact that one of us was hurting so deeply and wanted me to snap out of the depression and misery that I was in.

 It challenges me to think that an innocent four year old would know that as family, we should always thrive to, not hurt, but to honour and love each other. I do know that sometimes hurt is caused unintentionally, but we should not hesitate to validate each other’s feelings and apologise. When next you are in a conflict with a loved one, do remember that when everything else in your life changes, your family is the only constant.

The latter part of a verse from the passage Matthew 21 verse 15 (KJV) comes to mind........Yea: out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. Do not take too lightly then, what our children say to us from time to time, because we could indeed learn quite a few things from them and be better for it. Do know also that children are closer to the heart of God than we are.


As May, being child month approaches, followed by family month, June, let us be mindful of this. 

HAPPY FRIDAY ALL  

THIS IS GREAT NEWS!!!!!

I have posted before on more than one occasion about this celebrity couple, Giuliana and Bill Rancic, who stars in their own reality show, ‘Giuliana and Bill on the style network. Part of the storyline of their show includes their public struggle with infertility. As if this is not bad enough, last year, Giuliana was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and later learnt that she would not be able to begin trying to conceive again until after five years and it would probably not be even safe for her to become pregnant.

I admire this couple’s strength and resolve because, against this series of devastating news, while some of us would have probably given up, they began looking at other alternatives to become parents, such as using a gestational carrier or turning to surrogacy.

Turns out, they did decide to use a gestational carrier and they are now expecting a baby in September.

As an infertility sufferer, I love a triumphant infertility story and I am so excited for Giuliana and Bill.

Watch them announce their exciting news on the Today show, via the video link below:-

http://todayentertainment.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/23/11348819-giuliana-and-bill-rancic-were-having-a-baby?lite

Post picture courtesy of http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120423012256-giuliana-rancic-and-bill-rancic-2012-story-top.jpg

“ ITS MY TURN TO BE THE BABY”

Yesterday morning, after giving the baby her morning feeding, hubby came and took her. No sooner had he taken her, our four year old son jumped into my lap, assumed the nursing position and remarked, “its my turn to be the baby”. I could not believe how big he felt in my arms and wondered, where did the time go, where did my first little baby go? I did not waste the opportunity to bond with him as I have been quite delinquent where that is concerned. He was a little out of sorts when we took the baby home but now he is doing quite all right, and enjoying his precious little gift of a sister.

I told him that mommy used to hold him just like that and feed him ‘chu chups milk.’ (When he was born his grandmother gave my breast the name tu tups, and so since then this is the name we have used and because he did not quite get the correct pronunciation, it became ‘chu chups’ for him and still is). For his sister, he now refers to it as ‘mommy’s magic chu chups’ as she falls asleep as soon as she starts nursing. Much to his dismay though, as he always wants her awake so that he can play with her. I went on to sing him the lullaby ‘hush little baby don’t you cry’ and he laughed hysterically (he has a laugh that no matter how down you are, it warms your heart and cheer up your soul).

He too seemed to have wanted to cease every moment of this opportunity because any minute, his father would be calling to get ready for school. He then requested that we play forte (for him it is ‘house sheets). I am sure most of you know forte and used to play it when you were kids, where chairs and cushions are used to create an enclosure. For our son though, he uses a sheet (hence the term ‘house sheets’) and our bodies do the function of the chairs. He has a dictionary of terms like no other, for things. His first name for cheese sandwich was ‘triangle cheese,' because we used to cut the sandwich into two triangles. Soda for him is ‘burny hot juice’ because it burns the throat when being consumed, and if it is grape flavour, it is ‘burny hot juice, purple.’ He is quite a little comic around the home, and makes us laugh so much. So under the forte, I began to ask him about school, who his best friends are etc.

The time was short but it worked for me and seemed to have worked for him as well. This got my day off to a great start and was reminded again, that our struggle with infertility was so worth it and how blessed we are to have these precious little miracles in our lives.

NAMING REMORSE ANYONE??

As our struggles with infertility intensified, I began thinking that if we were ever given the privilege of having children, it would be appropriate to give them names with meanings signifying triumph over our long struggle with infertility. We began thinking of names with meaning such as triumph, gift of God etc., and was also very drawn to biblical characters who we read, had struggles with infertility.

Without knowing the meaning of Theodore, I became drawn to it because a couple on a popular daytime soap, who had struggles with infertility, named their son Theodore. I was drawn to this part of the storyline because at the time, with not many persons knowing of our struggles with infertility, and not many such stories out there to identify with, I quickly embrace this, as fiction as it was.

When we first became pregnant and learnt that we were having a girl, we decided to name our little girl SaraMarie. In the bible, Sarah, Abraham’s wife had struggles conceiving and eventually bore a son  Isaac. (Genesis 21 NIV).  I remember someone asked me what name I would give our baby and when I told them the name, they said to me, why would you give a child a name synonymous with such hardship? I said to her, yes it signifies hardship but the greater meaning in this story was the fact that out of that hardship came triumph, the birth of Isaac, now is there a better story? Sadly we lost that baby, but she still remain fondly in our hearts, our precious SaraMarie, our first miracle.

When we became pregnant with our son, we knew very soon that we wanted his name to mean divine gift or gift of God because after such intense infertility struggles the birth of a child for us, would be nothing short of Gods graciousness. It was then we found out that Theodore meant gift of God and found also that Matthew meant that as well. We chose Theodore because it was not a common name being given to boys and it is also a very strong name which we also wanted for him, and Theodore it was, amidst disapproval from a few family members.

Sometime after this, we were out when some children began asking us what our son’s name was. When we told them they looked at us and chuckled. Is he named after the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks? they asked (That movie was recently released at the time). My heart sank, and I felt awkward and even some remorse, thinking that this might be the beginning of hard times from his peers because of his name. I was quickly cheered up though when I remember the reason we chose that name for our son.

We are still trying to find the meaning of our daughter’s name LeeAnna, and have not been successful so far. What we do know already is that Lee means meadow or clearing and so we might have to just separate the names and use their separate meanings. However that turns out we love this name dearly. It is my name in part (Annetta Lee), and so I do not think we will have any naming remorse as a result.

So this is our naming story. How about yours, are you still happy with the names you have chosen for your children. According to a recent report, some parents are having naming remorse, how about you? 

post image by : http://www.meaningofnames.ca/picture/meaning-of-names01.jpg

MATERNAL OBESITY AND AUTISM IN CHILDREN

A new study suggests that maternal obesity could be linked to autism, a developmental disorder that affects a percentage of children.

See the link below for more in this regard.

http://lifestyle.myjoyonline.com/pages/health/201204/84666.php

From the article:-

The study of more than 1,000 children in California found the risk of autism and other developmental delays was 60 percent higher among those born to mothers who were obese, hypertensive or diabetic.

"The prevalence of obesity and diabetes among U.S. women of childbearing age is 34 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively," the study authors wrote in their report published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics. "Our findings raise concerns that these maternal conditions may be associated with neurodevelopmental problems in children and therefore could have serious public health implications."

Post image by: http://c312374.r74.cf1.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/shutterstock_66636112-410x274.jpg?609388

A MOTHER’S LOVE

"The heart of a home is a mother's love"

The expanse of a Mother’s love cannot be overstated. It nourishes, it heals.

The story is told in an article, compliments of Circle of Moms, of a baby boy, a preemie twin, whom the mother was told, had died shortly after she had given birth to him. The nurses placed the precious lifeless body of the little boy on his mother’s chest for her to say her goodbyes and a miracle happened. The baby began to move and grew stronger and stronger by the minute.

In this Easter season, I have been thinking a lot about Mary the mother of Jesus. The bible did not mention specifically about her agonies in the events leading up to the crucifixion and the crucifixion of her son. The accounts given in the four gospels mentioned that people followed as these events unfolded and watched the crucifixion from afar and women were among this crowd, which included Mary the mother of Jesus.

I can only imagine that she was in agony, especially seeing her child being whipped and mocked and then seeing him on that cruel cold cross, bloody all over. What mother would not feel that in the bottom of her stomach.

In this Easter season, let us all as women reflect on the role we play here on earth. As women we are given the ability to love in such great expanse. What a blessing. We love our children no matter the heartaches they give us. We love our husbands no matter how imperfect they come to us and we work tirelessly to make our family environment comfortable and nourishing.

Think of how different this world would be if we all practice love of this nature.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Read the full story of the baby whose mother’s love brought him back to life here:-

http://www.circleofmoms.com/article/miracle-baby-revived-from-death-mother-s-hug-03270?trk=digest_editorial_3270&email_enc=ldCm0N6nmtfcz8TLk5aRZXmc0azYy5yllc3Vzg%253D%253D&email_src=13316154384d705db652bf26b50998f3387259f089&template_name=digest_weekly_4&subject_id=04ff3a5f3f15f183f8cad0ca67e10b87:0&has_fb=1

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